NEW YORK Aug 15 Foreigners sold long-term U.S.
securities in June, including U.S. Treasuries and corporate
bonds, reversing inflows in the previous month, data from the
U.S. Treasury Department showed on Friday.

Net sales of long-term U.S. assets notched $18.7 billion in
June following an inflow of $18.6 billion the month before.

Including short-dated assets such as bills, overseas
investors sold $153.5 billion in June, after purchases of $33.1
billion in May.

"This is a disappointment and is a negative for the dollar.
Clearly, the United States is having a hard time attracting
investments to offset its current account deficit," said Michael
Woolfolk, global market strategist at BNY Mellon in New York.

Foreign investors also sold $20.8 billion in Treasuries for
the month of June, after purchases of $25.0 billion in May.

Ian Lyngen, senior bond analyst at CRT Capital in Stamford,
Connecticut said the outflow in Treasuries was led by private
investors, who sold a net $36.8 billion in June compared with
buying of $4.8 billion in May.

Official flows into Treasuries were a positive $20 billion
in June, he said, on top of $19.7 billion in May, and $18.8
billion in April.

China's holdings of U.S. Treasuries declined in June to
$1.268 trillion, data showed, still the largest among major
foreign holders. Japan's Treasury holding fell to $1.219
trillion.

Investors also sold U.S. corporate bonds for a third
straight month. In June, corporate bond outflows totaled $3.6
billion, from sales of $7.8 billion the previous month.

U.S. equities, however, showed an inflow of $2.6 billion,
but this was smaller than May's infow of $10.8 billion and
April's purchases of $10.2 billion.

BNY Mellon's Woolfolk also said there was some evidence of
repatriation by U.S. investors, who sold foreign equities
amounting to $12.8 billion.

"This may be an indication of risk aversion as geopolitical
tensions were starting to rise in June," Woolfolk said.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama and Meredith Mazzilli)

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